Medical imaging often includes creating images of the human body or parts of the human body for clinical purposes such as examination, diagnosis and/or treatment. These images may be acquired by a number of different imaging modalities including, for example, ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance (MR), positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), mammograms (MG) digital radiology (DR), computed radiology (CR) or the like. In a number of example medical imaging workflows, an acquired image may be reviewed by a technician of the imaging modality, and then sent to a viewing station where the image may be reviewed by a medical professional such as a radiologist. This is the case, for example, in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).
Maintaining consistency in the quality of an acquired image through an imaging workflow is often desirable. Due to different monitor calibration functions between imaging modalities and viewing stations, however, an undesirable visualization discrepancy may occur. These calibration functions may be described as being performed by a modality or viewing station, but in more particular examples, may be performed by video drivers of the respective apparatuses, software associated with monitors of the respective apparatuses or the like. In one example, an imaging modality may apply a first calibration function such as the gamma correction function (e.g., γ=2.2) to an acquired image viewed by a monitor of the modality. The viewing station in this example, however, may apply a second, different calibration function to the acquired image viewed by a monitor of the viewing station—the second calibration function in one example being the DICOM GSDF. For more information on the DICOM GSDF, see National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), PS 3.14-2009, entitled: Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)—Part 14: Grayscale Standard Display Function, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In the above example, an imaging modality may have a particular gamma value (the value that describes the relationship between the varying levels of luminance that a monitor can display). This gamma value may differ from one imaging modality to another imaging modality, which may compound the undesirability of differences in monitor calibration functions in various instances in which a viewing station may receive images from different modalities.
Dedicated viewing stations were traditionally employed to view medical images. However, a wide range of computing devices may now be utilized to view medical images. In addition to dedicated viewing stations, such as those employed by PACS, a variety of computing devices, such as computer workstations, personal computers and mobile devices, such as laptop computers, tablet computers, mobile telephones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, may be utilized to view medical images.
Although users have become accustomed to viewing medical images that have been calibrated in accordance with DICOM GSDF, some computing devices, such as mobile devices, that may be utilized to view medical images may not be configured to calibrate medical images in accordance with DICOM GSDF. Instead, the computing devices, such as mobile devices, may be configured to calibrate images in accordance with another type of calibration function, such as a calibration function designed for the display of video games, movies or other content. Thus, the images presented by these computing devices may not appear in the same manner as that with which users are accustomed and, as such, users may experience more difficulty in reading and interpreting the medical images.